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Bioinformatics

Building and analyzing genetic maps to understand the building blocks of life is cutting edge information science. But are you ready to share your genetic data with the world?

Posted by shantesh hede
04 June, 2002 07:06:03

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The information technology based tools of Bioinformatics act as an interface between computers and biological sciences.

The field of bioinformatics seeks to organize, analyse and distribute biological information in specially designed databases powered by smart mathematical algorithms and the latest database techniques.

This technology is used to solve complex biological questions related to metabolic pathways, genes, protein function and pharmacological/developmental aspects of drugs and medicines.

Biological research has lead to the development of ever-increasing amounts of databases, containing loads of biological information accessible to people, private companies, or both, giving rise to many ethical issues.

It has significant advantages over traditionally expensive and time consuming "wet lab" research methods, because computational tools give the most predictive and accurate information about genes and proteins with regards to mediating aspects of drug action.

To enhance the design and development of new drugs, the field has diversified into different sections.

These are as follows:-

Proteomics: A field involved in studying different proteomes and their protein expression in cells,which assists in identifying disease mechanisms for therapeutic drug targets.
Pharmacogenomics: A study of a individual’s genetic inheritance which is responsible for his/her reaction to different drugs.So as to prescribe the effective and least toxic drugs and decrease overall medical costs.
Computer based drug design: Design of drug molecules is done on the basis of the structure of drug receptors, structure activity relationship, toxicity assessment, physical/chemical properties of drugs. The formulation aspects of polymorphism and compatibility with different formulation additives are computed on specially designed softwares.

Together these fields aid in the development of new drug molecules, which reduces cost of conducting clinical trials, which often fail due to variations in animal or human models.

Related Links

Proteomics in Medicine
http://www.ogs.com/Proteomics/proteomics_in_medicine/?view=HomePageFull
This page, by Oxford Glycosciences, Ltd, explains what proteomics, that is the comprehensive study of proteins expressed in cells, tissues and fluids, is and what purposes it serves.

What is Bioinformatics?
http://bioinformatics.weizmann.ac.il/cards/bioinfo_intro.html
A good introduction to bioinformatics, presented in hypertext form, with an extra set of interesting links to other sites.

GenomeWeb
http://www.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk/GenomeWeb/
Although this page looks a bit empty, don't be fooled - it holds numerous categories of frequently updated links to sites about genomics, including databases, mappings, companies and much more.

Bioinformatics: Biology and Molecular Biology Resources
http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/protocols/bioinformatics.html
This is a list of links to databases holding information about DNA, genomics, molecular biology and bioinformatics.

Computational Biology
http://doegenomestolife.org/compbio/index.html
This page, by the US Dept. of Energy, presents a research program which is part of the Genomes to Life program. It has in-depth background material and illustrations for bioinformatics.

Bioinformatics
http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/research/informatics.html
This is a part of the Human Genome Project Information web. which has lots of information about genetics. This page presents bioinformatics and offers links to abstracts of papers.

Methods and concept on database visualisation
http://industry.ebi.ac.uk/~alan/Presentations/BioStandards111298/
This is a slide show presenting how database visualisation aids the study of bioinformatics. It shows different maps, but there is little explanation as to what the purpose of the different visualisations is.

Biocomputing For Everyone!
http://www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/bcd/ForAll/
Professors in the field of bioinformatics comments on why they work in the field, and what promises they see in the future.

Pharmacogenomics: Medicine and the New Medicines
http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/medicine/pharma.html
Pharmacogenomics is the study of how an individual's genetic inheritance affects the body's response to drugs. This page lists anticipated benefits, and has links to further information.

UCLA Bioinformatics
http://www.bioinformatics.ucla.edu/
This is the bioinformatics department at UCLA. Some information here is not yet available to the public for some reason, but there are interesting links and information about programs, seminars and other UCLA genetics services.